Re: TR 7/16 Big Show Synopsis

Helen Read wrote:
Brady wrote:

Anyway, the lesion, as it were, feels too 'long' to be a canker sore.

And I base this on how it feels running my tongue over it.

Maybe it's a mucocele, which is a type of lesion in the mouth usually caused by an injury to the lip. Google it, you'll find pictures.

I developed a mucocele on the inside of my lower lip a few years ago, most likely as a result of an injury to my lip incurred when I was intubated when I went in for surgery under general anesthesia. The mucocele was extremely annoying, and interfered with my horn playing. I finally had to go to an oral surgeon to have it excised...and then I couldn't play at all for a few weeks. I mean, surgery on a horn player's lip! Not good.

Next time I ever go in for surgery, I'm going to make the anesthesiologist *promise* not to cause any harm to my lips.

Anesthesia always get the blame.

Fortunately Helen's complication is not very common and usually resolves without treatment. Sometimes it seems that the people who are more likely to have complications are nurses, spouses of physicians or their family members, and redheads. No studies prove this, but it sure seems that way.

Of course, most anesthesiologists try not to traumatize the airway but the nature of the beast is that if you are under general anesthesia you are probably going to have a tube, either endotrachal intubation or laryngeal mask airway. Even if the tube is inserted without incident, there is a foreign body exerting pressure on the mucosa, or lining of the airway. We use an air-filled balloon to decrease the pressure, but there is still pressure. Also, when a patient is waking, he or she may bite down quite hard on the plastic tubing, resulting in trauma to a previously loose or decayed tooth. I once gave anesthesia to a friend who was *very* anxious and when he woke he bit down so hard on the tube he caught his upper lip between his teeth and the tube as he violently awoke, resulting in a horrible oral lesion. It got better but the trauma was not a result of any traumatic intubation. Of course it happened to a friend and a nice guy.

Rod
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Relevant Pages

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